Auto industry changing amidst digital world - Fenabrave
In the wake of the ever-growing digital world, the automotive industry is certainly one which should be seeing a number of changes in the years to come, a topic discussed during the 28th Fenabrave (National motor vehicles distribution federation) expo in the city of São Paulo.
During a talk on “New Vehicle Distribution Models” on Wednesday (Aug 8), three local executives expressed their opinions on the matter.
According to Luis Eduardo de Barros Cruz e Guião (Dado) who is the president of Brazil’s Volkswagen distributors association Assobrav, the structure of car dealerships in Brazil and abroad will be going through changes in the coming years.
“For one, the business model of dealerships will be more focused on services such as the sale of energy and 3D printing, as well as the use of high capacity equipment,” Dado said.
“Dealerships will also be smaller, have fewer vehicles on display, and feature technological showrooms with virtual or augmented reality,” he added.
According to Felix Cardamone who is the president of local electronic mobility solutions company Connectcar, information gathering to offer services is key.
“Car e-wallets will be used for more than just toll booth payments, but also for getting gasoline, drive thru services, car maintenance, and others,” he said, explaining that obtaining and managing information is the key to improving services and, in turn, boosting client satisfaction and loyalty.
Finally, Sylvio Alves de Barros Netto expressed his opinion on car usage within our society. He is the founder of zFlow, a tech startup for the automotive industry, as well as Webmotors and iCarros which are now owned by Santander and Itaú Unibanco, respectively.
“On average, a car is a device which weighs two tons, is not operating 95% of the time, and carries 60kg of cargo. From an energy standpoint, it is quite difficult to find something more inconsistent and inefficient than a car,” said Barros Netto.
“Just like the still camera, the car is being disintegrated by mobile app-based e-hailing service which are being used by Generation Z,” he added.
Sylvio Alves de Barros Netto speaking at 28th Fenabrave expo (Source: Fenabrave)
In 2017, the top 5 countries using e-hailing services, also known as ride-hailing, were China (51% of the population), Mexico (46%), Russia (38%), Spain (35%), and Brazil (33%).
